The Scottish Playwrights’ Association announces the winner of the fourth Hector MacMillan Award for Best New Scottish Play.

The Scottish Playwrights Association has announced that the winner of the fourth Hector MacMillan Award for Best New Scottish Play is Linda McLean’s Castle Lennox.

Linda is an award-winning Scottish playwright whose plays have been produced internationally, most notably in the USA and France. Castle Lennox was her second production for the Lung Ha Theatre Company and her first musical.

Set in 1969, Castle Lennox is a play with songs – with lyrics by Linda and music by MJ McCarthy – about the strength, wit and resilience of those sent to institutions for the intellectually disabled during the segregated period of the 1930s to the 1990s. The inspiring story, based on a real institution, was presented on stage in partnership with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

Linda said today: “I have carried the burden of Castle Lennox since I was seven. Working closely with Lung Ha and The Lyceum has allowed me to see it through the eyes of the people who would have been there. They have created it with honesty, joy and hard work, and it has become a treasure to me. It took the theatrical equivalent of moving mountains to get it onto the stage and I will be forever grateful to everyone involved in the process.”

She continued: “Winning the Hector, an award given by other playwrights, is forever etched in my heart and mind as the most special thing I’ve ever written. I cried with joy when I got the call, and then I burst into tears.

Castle Lennox has been nominated for two awards at the annual Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland in 2023. Emma McCaffrey was nominated in the Outstanding Performance category for her role as Annis Drummond, and the cast won Best Ensemble for their work on the production. The 2023 CATS Awards were presented at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh on 11 June 2023 by guest presenters, River City actor and acclaimed pantomime villain Grant Stott and BAFTA-winning actress Shauna MacDonald.

SSP Co-Chairs Peter Arnott and Kris Haddow said: “This is the fourth presentation of Hector, with over forty eligible plays, premiering in 2023, voted on by SSP members during the nomination period. We are delighted that Linda wins and look forward to presenting her with the award at the end of the 50th anniversary celebrations in November.

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